Aircraft galley systems for commercial aircraft with in-flight catering services typically incorporate self-contained refrigeration units that are cooled to prevent spoilage of food prior to distribution to passengers, and to keep beverages at desired serving temperatures, as well as separate ovens for heating food in the preparation of hot meals to be served aboard aircraft. Currently space must be allocated for each of the heating and cooling devices separately, either in the same galley or in different galleys.
One known modular aircraft galley utilizes several vertical and horizontal structural elements for accommodating slide-in devices or items of equipment such as galley inserts or galley appliances. The galley includes structural elements that form an essentially unchangeable basic element providing connection elements for the mechanical connection and interfacing of the slide-in devices or items of equipment, so that various kinds of the slide-in devices or items of equipment can be interchanged at various locations. Such modular aircraft galley systems typically use the outer case of a galley insert or galley appliance, such as an oven, refrigerator or other such device, as the principal mechanism for locating the galley insert or galley appliance in an inner cavity or liner of a galley.
It would be desirable to provide an inner liner for an aircraft galley or other aircraft monument that provides primary structural support for functional components of a galley insert or galley appliance, such as wiring, tubing, insulation, and the like, that are required for normal operational capacities of the galley insert or galley appliance, allowing the functional components to be directly attached to the structural liner or independently located from the structural liner. It would also be desirable for such an inner liner to include upper and lower fixed, sliding or floating attachment points, either individually or in combination. It would also be desirable to optionally incorporate thermal disconnects to the galley structure in such attachment points. It would also be desirable for such an inner liner to allow use of a single replaceable galley insert or galley appliance to form a single line replaceable unit or form part of a componentized system, and to reduce weight of aircraft galley systems by the elimination of conventional galley insert or galley appliance supporting frames or cases. It would be desirable to eliminate usage of single line replaceable unit as a galley insert or galley appliance in favor of modular, component line replaceable units as a galley insert or galley appliance and componentization of the conventional galley insert or galley appliance design. The present invention meets these and other needs.